AN inmate involved in an alleged Hunter jailhouse attack on another prisoner will be sentenced next month.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Haysam Zreika was due to be sentenced in Cessnock Local Court on Monday June 5, but the matter was adjourned after the court heard the 44-year-old was absent because his father had died the previous day.
Zreika was charged after he stepped in on a physical altercation between prisoners at Shortland Correctional Centre on the morning of March 4, 2022.
According to a statement of agreed facts tendered to the court, Zreika became involved after a 27-year-old inmate in G Block was set upon when he allegedly lunged at a prisoner and grabbed him by the torso inside one of the cells.
During the alleged bashing that ensued, the 27-year-old was struck more than 35 times.
The statement of facts said Zreika joined in on the affray when he pulled the 27-year-old by the neck of his shirt into the block's common area.
Zreika and two other inmates then allegedly repeatedly struck the 27-year-old - Zreika punched the man in the head and torso in a flurry of six blows at one point.
After the incident, corrections officers took the 27-year-old to the jail's medical facility before he was sent to hospital.
Zreika was one of four people charged the following week and he pleaded guilty to affray earlier this year.
The statement of agreed facts in Zreika's case said the Crown could not prove beyond reasonable doubt Zreika's actions were those which caused the 27-year-old's injuries.
Zreika's solicitor in court on Monday applied to have the matter moved to Sydney, where his client lived, but the application was rejected because the offence was committed in the Hunter.
His co-accused - Wade Basanovic, Bryce Mitchell Harding and Tareek Hamzy - remain before the courts.
Mr Basanovic and Mr Harding - facing assault and affray counts - will appear before Newcastle Local Court again on June 7. Mr Hamzy will next front a Newcastle magistrate on his assault charge on June 21.
Zreika remains on bail and will be sentenced on July 20.
IN THE NEWS
To see more stories and read today's paper download the Newcastle Herald news app here.
